Bibliograph

Inside Roman libraries, book collections and their management in antiquity, George W. Houston

Type

Label

Inside Roman libraries, book collections and their management in antiquity, George W. Houston

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-317), appendices, and indexes

resource.governmentPublication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Inside Roman libraries

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

875742412

Responsibility statement

George W. Houston

Series statement

Studies in the history of Greece and Rome

Sub title

book collections and their management in antiquity

Summary

Libraries of the ancient world have long held a place in the public imagination. Even in antiquity, the library at Alexandria was nearly legendary. Until now there has been relatively little research to discover what was inside these libraries, how the collections came into being and evolved, and who selected and maintained the holdings. In this engaging and meticulously researched study, George Houston examines a dozen specific book collections of Roman date in the first comprehensive attempt to answer these questions. Through a careful analysis of the contents of the collections, Houston reveals the personalities and interests of their owners; shows how manuscripts were acquired, organized, and managed; and identifies the various purposes that libraries served. He takes up the life expectancy of manuscripts, the size of libraries, and dangers to books, as well as the physical objects within libraries, from scribal equipment to works of art. The result is a clearer, more specific, and more detailed picture of ancient book collections and the elements of Roman libraries than has previously been possible. -- from dust jacket

Table Of Contents

Assembling a collection -- Lists of books preserved on papyrus -- The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum -- The book collections of Oxyrhynchus -- Spaces, storage, equipment, and art -- Personnel and their activities -- Appendix 1. Lists of books on papyrus : Greek texts, English translations, and commentary -- Appendix 2. Checklist of books in the collection of the Villa of the Papyri -- Appendix 3. Catalog of manuscripts in the Breccia + GH3 Find

Classification